This course explores forces of globalization to understand the complexities of local place. It examines how this place is influenced by trade, migration, health issues, environmental pressures, human rights, and the global rise of populism. Field trips to international businesses, groups addressing global health, and human rights organizations will illustrate how the geographic and political borders of place are relatively porous and the identities of people within those places are shaped by local and global forces. Journals, student-led discussions, and a capstone project provide the opportunity to link readings on globalization and place to observations and investigations about the local community. Open only to new first-year students.